All posts in category animal cruelty

Some apparently terrible people have evacuated Palm Beach County ahead of Hurricane Irma and left their animals tied to trees and cars. Local ACOs are rescuing as many as possible but also asking the public to take in any animals they see left outside.

And in an effort to reduce the shelter population in order to make space for more abandoned pets, they are waiving adoption fees as well as the normal foster and adoption application process. I know some readers will hate that but I still believe that the overwhelming majority of those who foster and adopt shelter pets are kind-hearted people who will do right by the animals. And we all know what far too many AC outfits do to reduce shelter population. (Rhymes with pill, hill and shill – actually I’m just going to give it away: it’s kill.) This beats that with a stick.

You and I and all American taxpayers fund 16 wildlife refuges in Alaska representing 85% of our country’s federal wildlife refuges. So we all – not just Alaskans – have a vested interest in the management of these 76 million acres.

For years, Alaskan state officials have been asking the feds for permission to extend their so-called predator control tactics to these refuges – basically seeking sanction to allow for cruel and unbalanced killing of bears and wolves. The US Fish and Wildlife Service has repeatedly denied these requests and last year, the denial was made permanent via a federal rule. This year, the Republican controlled Congress and President Trump have officially revoked that rule, creating an opening for kill-freaks to get their rocks off:

These [anti-predator] tactics include killing black bear cubs or mother with cubs at den sites; killing brown bears over bait; trapping and killing brown and black bears with steel-jaw leghold traps or wire snares; killing wolves and coyotes during denning season; and killing brown and black bears from aircraft.

Senator Lisa Murkowski (R- AK) adds that anyone who gets ill thinking about sadists running down animals in helicopters for slaughter should be comforted knowing that it’s still illegal to use “gas against wolves” in Alaskan wildlife refuges. So see, not actually worse than Hitler on the Sean Spicer scale, I guess.

At the heart of the disagreement between state and federal wildlife managers is what each group thinks should guide its purpose. The federal government has argued that the goal on refuges and in parks should be biodiversity. The state Board of Game has an interest in ensuring maximum sustained populations for hunting.

In other words, kill the predators so there are more prey (e.g. moose and caribou) for richie rich trophy hunters who have powerful lobbying groups like the NRA behind them, supporting the revocation of this rule. And never mind about a balanced ecosystem or any of that science stuff which, as we now know, is FAKE NEWS.

But as we have seen with other flailing attempts by the Trump administration to govern, the courts may end up sorting this out:

Geoff Haskett, former Alaska regional director for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, […] left the agency and is now acting director of the National Wildlife Refuge Association. Even though President Trump signed the congressional resolution, Haskett believes it will not give the state of Alaska carte blanche to begin predator control on federal refuges.

“It doesn’t change the laws and authorities and existing regulations that the service already has,” Haskett said. “It’s really back to square one.”

Ken Marsh, spokesman for the Alaska Department of Fish and Game, agreed. Without a blanket rule, federal refuge managers likely will consider predator control requests on a case-by-case basis, he said, under provisions of federal environmental law.

Thankfully, common sense and decency still have defenders. And they are willing to go to court. Stay tuned.

The SPCA Los Angeles conducted an investigation into the care of a cat named Sandy based upon a tip. Sandy lived in a warehouse rescue facility operated by Furrever Grateful Rescue (FGR) in Long Beach, CA. Medical records indicate FGR began taking Sandy to veterinarian Ryan James Whitney in September 2014. Sandy had a tumor on the side of his face. Over the next 6 months, Whitney performed multiple gruesome surgeries on Sandy, gouging away at his eye until it was finally gone as well as portions of his nose and mouth. The deeply invasive tumor continued to grow and Whitney continued to drain the cat’s face of massive infection in between the surgeries. Whitney never submitted any of the surgically removed tissue to a lab for testing. Sandy was never diagnosed or given any prognosis. He was unable to eat normally and was suffering tremendously. He wasted away.

In February 2015, FGR took Sandy to a different vet. The second vet saw the giant tumor consuming Sandy’s face, his emaciated frame and his inability to eat adequately and diagnosed him with end stage squamous cell carcinoma. The prognosis was grave as the cancer is untreatable. Combined with Sandy’s immense suffering and extremely poor quality of life, the vet recommended immediate euthanasia to end Sandy’s needless agony.

Instead of releasing Sandy from his suffering, FGR took him back to the warehouse and continued posting photos of him on Facebook, soliciting donations. The second vet, deeply disturbed by Sandy’s condition, contacted SPCA LA and the state veterinary board. The SPCA LA notified FGR that they needed to have Sandy euthanized immediately. FGR took Sandy back to Whitney for the euthanasia. An investigation was conducted:

In its investigation, spcaLA discovered that FGR had been using Sandy’s worsening condition for fundraising for Sandy on social media, a practice not uncommon, and meant to pull at the heart and purse strings of donors. “It is unclear why Whitney or Furrever Grateful Rescue allowed the miserable suffering of this animal,” said spcaLA President Madeline Bernstein. “Whatever their intentions, whether motivated by naiveté or greed, this kind of cruelty is beyond words. No living being should ever suffer like that.”

The California Veterinary Medical Board revoked Whitney’s license so he can’t harm any more animals under the guise of “medical care” in the state.

FGR however, may face no legal consequences for their part in Sandy’s extended suffering:

Because the rescue is within the letter of the law and “provided medical care,” there are no animal cruelty charges pending against FGR at this time, however the Attorney General is looking into whether they are compliant with annual nonprofit regulations.

Get them on that, if they are in violation. Get them on any legal thing where they are found to be in violation. Kind of like sending Al Capone to prison for tax evasion – do what needs to be done within the law in order to stop these horrible people. How many other animals are in that warehouse of horrors right now? Are they too receiving “medical care”?

There are photos of Sandy at this link but the reason I am posting it here on its own is because readers need to be warned: these photos are upsetting. I didn’t make it past the first few myself so I can’t say specifically how many or how awful they are as a whole but knowing how Sandy suffered and that he was used in these photos as a fundraising prop for a so-called rescue, it’s almost too much to bear. Click with caution.

Animals advocates work with a lot of rescues, many of which are known only via social media. It feels natural to assume that the people saving animals from pet killing facilities are the good guys. Usually, they are. Let this serve as a reminder that there are evil people in all walks of life. They are a tiny minority, thankfully. But it is on us to perform our due diligence when donating or otherwise supporting animal groups. That can be tricky, especially when faced with certain death for an animal at a pound.

It’s completely unacceptable that our public animal shelters put us in this position. We need our government shelters to be safe havens for pets. That is not at all the case in far too many facilities across the country. Which leaves animal advocates in constant crisis mode, forever scrambling to find someone, anyone with an open space for a pet we are desperate to save. No animal advocate wants a shelter pet killed. No animal advocate wants what happened to Sandy to happen to any sentient being. These should not be the choices we face.

A veterinarian in Hoke Co, NC filed a report with police after euthanizing a horse, reportedly for malnutrition. The sheriff’s office obtained a warrant for the property, where a rescuer had been housing animals saved from pet killing facilities, and found approximately 120 animals, including horses, dogs, cats, goats and birds:

Hoke County Sheriff Hubert Peterkin said this is one of the worst cases he has seen in his 14 years as sheriff.

“It was sad to see those animals. It’s like they were happy to see us, the minute we opened the barn to let the horses out, they ran out and wanted to eat on the grass.”

Happy horses in a barn. Hmm. I am not a horse owner but that doesn’t sound particularly damning to me. I am guessing that most horses are probably happy to be let out of their shelter and like to run out and chomp-chomp on the grass. So how bad off were these 120 animals?

“There is no way she could not have seen what we saw. No way she couldn’t have known these animals were suffering and dying,” Peterkin said.
[…]
“Had we not gotten notification when we did, we would have a lot of dead animals.”

Wow. So these animals were literally on the brink of death. Gasping their last. Clinging to life. Skin stretched over their bones, presumably.

The dogs look ok to me, although a few are a wee bit chubby. But in keeping with the drama, the sheriff called in the ASPCA to take all the animals away. And to rag on the owner some more:

“I would say that she didn’t go to these shelters to intentionally bring them here and then intentionally neglect them. The intent to neglect them came in when she failed to provide the care that she knows that they needed,” said Kathryn Destreza, director of investigations with the ASPCA. “I think, possibly, she thought she was doing the right thing, but I have to believe that the reality is at some point she knows she’s not doing the right thing by these animals and that’s inexcusable.”

She has to believe that at some point there was wrongdoing. She just has to. Because otherwise that would mean there was no wrongdoing. And they just took someone’s animals away for no reason. Which would be – erm, inexcusable.

When deputies searched the property last week, Destreza said, they found animals had no food, no water and had received no veterinary care.

“To me, that’s a tragedy,” she said. “They should have been better off then they had been.”

They apparently had food and water. Let’s not pretend that the tubbos were starving to death. As for vet care, I can’t say. I don’t even see an elbow callous or long toenails, let alone anything that would be described as a tragedy. Now I will grant you 120 animals is an awful lot for one person to take care of, IF that was the case here, which I don’t know. Maybe she needed some help? Maybe placing some of the animals would have gotten her down to a number she was better able to care for? Maybe the ASPCA could provide some education on how to find permanent homes for pets so she doesn’t get overwhelmed in future? I guess that all sounds like work. And not at all sexy. Better to yell tragedy and worst I’ve ever seen and imminent mass death and get those photos for the fundraising emails and on to the next.

The rescuer has been charged with one felony count of animal cruelty and is due in court next on August 10. She has been ordered by the court to have no contact with the animals while the ASPCA finishes hauling them off.

I wish the Hoke Co pound would start doing its job and actually sheltering animals instead of killing them. Imagine how the community could work together to save animals if there was a true shelter in place. Rescuers could partner with the shelter instead of operating in crisis management mode year round. Law enforcement could shift their focus to other priorities, knowing the county’s lost and stray pets were safe. And the ASPCA could go home and stay there.

A man thought to be a potential adopter visited the Brookhaven Animal Rescue League in Mississippi on Friday, asked to see the cats, then allegedly beat one to a pulp before leaving. The guy was unsupervised as all the staff and vols at the private shelter were chasing a loose dog. The three year old cat, called Tilly, was found in an open cage, battered and bloody, clinging to life. She died later at a vet’s office.

The area where Tilly was found is described as a colony room so it sounds as if she was tortured in view of other cats. There was blood spatter on the walls and a “plastic stick” was in pieces. The man apparently beat Tilly until his weapon fell apart then stomped on her.

Jody Cothron has been charged with misdemeanor animal cruelty in connection with the case. In Mississippi, nearly all animal cruelty offenses are misdemeanors. Police have obtained surveillance video from the shelter.

I totally get that there was an emergency at the shelter because a dog had gotten loose. I get that everyone was looking out for the dog’s well being by chasing him around and leaving the guy in the cat colony room unsupervised. But come on people, you need to watch your pets and not leave them alone with strangers.

If a guy walks into a daycare and says he’s interested in looking around because he might want to enroll his kid, you don’t show him into the infant room and leave him alone – even if there’s an emergency. Emergencies happen. They need to be handled in such a way that no one’s safety is compromised.

If it was absolutely an all-hands-on-deck situation that required everyone in the place to help, the first thing that needed to happen was for someone to quickly explain to the visitor that he would need to wait in his car until the dog was captured and then to make sure the guy was out of there. Because apparently unsupervised adopters beating shelter pets is a thing now. FFS.

The American Veterinary Medical Association states that cats should be microchipped “by a licensed veterinarian or under supervision of a licensed veterinarian” via subcutaneous injection in the area between the shoulder blades. I don’t know whether the terrible Rowan Co pound in NC follows the recommendations of the AVMA regarding microchipping but since the procedure is pretty straightforward, any significant deviation being part of the protocol seems highly unlikely. And yet, somehow a cat named Cooper had his jaw broken reportedly during the injection of a microchip at the Rowan Co pound on Tuesday. Cooper is being fostered by Debbie Orbison:

Orbison said Cooper was healthy when shelter staff brought the cat into a closed-to-the-public area of the shelter. Cooper was bleeding from the mouth after being microchipped, Orbison said.

“I can’t say what happened, but when he went back to get microchipped he was fine,” she said. “He came back with a fractured jaw.”

A state inspector is investigating the incident and Rowan Co has placed an ACO on paid leave during the investigation. The county has refused to name the ACO.

Cooper has already undergone one surgery on his jaw and will require additional surgeries.

While we wait for the state to conclude its investigation, it’s hard not to imagine what sort of obscene cruelty might have resulted in this cat’s jaw being fractured in two places. It puts me in mind of former Memphis pound employee Frank Lightfoot who was observed by an undercover police officer stepping on a cat with both feet after he failed to kill the cat via injection. And of the Chesterfield Co, SC pound workers who reportedly beat cats in the head with pipes “to knock them out.”

And I can’t help but wonder what type of an environment exists at the Rowan Co pound that someone capable of this cruelty would be employed. What else has happened on this director’s watch? I mean, besides mandatory cat killing, dragging an injured dog on a chokepole then throwing him in the gas chamber, and deeming most animals “unadoptable” as an excuse for killing them. What else has gone on in that closed-to-the-public area of the shelter?

But of course of course OF COURSE we must remember that these folks wouldn’t work there if they didn’t love animals and it’s a hard job and if only the public would spay and neuter, shelter cats wouldn’t have to get their jaws broken during a routine injection under the skin. Dang that irresponsible public!

There have been some developments in the case of the former head of Boulder City AC in Nevada. Readers might remember Mary Jo Frazier as the lady organism accused of killing healthy/treatable animals “for fun”, who was the subject of a police investigation resulting in a recommendation of criminal charges but whose boss decided to sweep the whole thing under the rug and allow her to retire. Frazier reportedly fled the state.

Conger resigned in January after his staff went to human resources to complain that Frazier’s behavior had been reported to him a full year before taking in action, and resulted in an abrupt departure of its police chief.

A Clark Co grand jury indicted Frazier yesterday on two felony counts of animal cruelty and a warrant has been issued for her arrest. One charge relates to Frazier’s alleged refusal to provide care for a badly injured pitbull puppy because, as a whistleblower told police, “we don’t spend money on pit bulls and because I’m just going to stick her anyway.” The second charge relates to Frazier’s alleged spite-killing of her ex-husband’s dachshund, Oscar.

Thanks, once again, to the irresponsible public for bringing all the irresponsible to their elected officials and shoving it in their faces until they did their jobs:

Public outcry turned into passionate rallies and protests with several victims in attendance.

And several more under mountains of trash at the landfill.

“This is somebody who is being paid to take care of these animals who was killing these animals,” said Nevada State Senator Mark Manendo, who helped lead the fight for the city to submit the case to the Clark County District Attorney for consideration.

Gee, what a thing.

“We had people even saying listen ‘we’d come into be shelters with food and blankets and we were going to walk the animals and there were no animals there,'” Manendo said.

Sooooo everyone was under the assumption the place had a 100% adoption rate and those adoptions happened instantaneously upon impound? No one noticed the dumpster overflowing with pets and attempted to reconcile that with this empty pound? I have to think that someone, probably many someones, did notice. But there was a powerful enabler in the police chief and an environment of hostility and violence. Frazier wielded her absolute power in the cruelest possible way, betraying the animals she was being paid to protect from harm.

I’m glad Frazier is finally being charged. I wish it was more. And I hope the former police chief is next.

A now former ACO with Indianapolis AC & C allegedly stole ketamine, a drug which immobilizes animals but still allows them to feel pain, from her job and used it on puppies at her house. Specifically, she would allegedly inject a puppy with ketamine, place him on her washing machine, tape his mouth shut so he couldn’t defend himself, then cut up his ears. One of these puppies reportedly threw up after having his first ear cut up and because his mouth was taped shut, choked to death on his vomit. She allegedly tried to hide the evidence:

Ashley Chastain, a commander with animal control at the time, then buried the body of the 2-month-old puppy in her backyard, the affidavit says.

Someone who knows Chastain apparently went to the police, providing them with photos of bloodied puppies on the uh, washing machine surgical suite. He also gave police a bag of ears.

Well fuck. After all the horrifying things I’ve had to write on this blog now I’ve got to add bag of ears to the list.

Chastain has been charged by Marion Co with three counts of torturing an animal. News of her arrest spread on social media and one heartbroken man says he recognized her as the ACO who stole his puppy.

But let’s not be part of the problem by complaining with our keyboards. Remember, it’s a hard job and nobody wants to kill animals and they’re doing the best they can and instead of hating you should donate some money so the shelter can buy more ketamine. I hear they’re running low.

There is an interesting case in VA involving a dog owner charged and convicted of animal cruelty over his decision to euthanize his ailing dog. He is appealing the conviction. Please read the article and share your thoughts. Some questions to help generate discussion:

Did the animal shelter staff adequately serve this member of their community who had no experience with end of life decisions for his dog?

How could the ACO determine how many seizures Buxton had and what, if any, amount of suffering he experienced during the 4 day period cited when no one outside the family had any contact with the dog?

Does an owner who sets up a chair in the backyard to stay with her terminally ill pet while he paces all night sound like someone AC should charge with cruelty?

Besides telling the owner he needed to be a county resident in order to have his dog euthanized at the pound and possibly telling him to take the dog to a vet, what else should shelter staff have done?

For those of you experienced with end of life decisions for your pets, have you encountered grey areas which caused you to struggle with the decisions? Did you ever consider during these times that your local AC might charge you with cruelty?

One of the dogs seized in the felony cruelty case against Buell, as shown on the NBC Los Angeles website.

In April 2015, Apple Valley Animal Services seized 13 starving dogs from rescuer Sherre Kay Buell. One dog was dead in a trash can on the property, one died on the way to the vet, and two had to be euthanized due to their poor condition. Buell has been charged with 12 counts of felony animal cruelty in Apple Valley and 3 counts in Hesperia (where she reportedly used to live). A preliminary hearing is scheduled for December 3.

Starving dogs is unacceptable. Full stop. There is video at the link of a little girl trying to comfort a severely emaciated dog who is too weak to stand. It’s heartbreaking.

Killing pets, which is what they do at Apple Valley Animal Services, is also unacceptable. And there is no hope of recovery from death. Which puts the manager’s comments on the case in rather a – what’s the word – stupid light:

“I think that’s one of the most difficult things for any of us in the animal welfare position. Why do people hurt animals?” asked Gina Whiteside, the manager at the Town of Apple Valley Animal Services.

“There needs to be some animal action at the state level that regulates animal rescuing,” Whiteside said.
While shelters are regulated by law to humanely care and provide for the animals they take in, the same rules are not in place for rescue groups or the people who foster, explained Whiteside.

The Real Problem. Identified.

So we want to hold rescuers to the same legal standards as shelters that hide and kill animals. Because that would be better, somehow.

Whiteside acknowledged animal cruelty issues extend beyond the cases against any one individual, calling for progress to be made in laws and procedures dealing with general animal services.
“In my opinion, anything short of changing the ‘status quo’ when it comes to ‘saving animals lives’ does not signal that we (shelters, rescues, the community) want better outcomes for animals in need of our services (at every level),” she wrote.

*Mother of All Coffee Spews*

Being starved and alive with the hope that someone might save you is actually a better outcome than the “services” offered in Apple Valley’s kill room. The status quo at far too many so-called shelters like Apple Valley is convenience killing. Any interest in changing that?

The Apple Valley Municipal Animal Shelter dealt with its own controversy this summer after Richard Marx and other celebrities on social media criticized the shelter for euthanizing four puppies, which officials had first unsuccessfully tried to house in foster homes. Whiteside said the criticisms, however, were the result of misinformation and distorted facts.

Probably the case for the many, many, really a lot many animals killed at Apple Valley. Just a bunch of hooey. If only we had harsher laws for rescuers!